Drawn by the rich trade of slaves, ivory and rubber
established in the 17th century, German and British settlers began to
explore inland Africa beginning around 1860. In 1884, Germany
established a protectorate over the Douala region; Britain did not
dispute the claim. By the early 20th century, Germany had built roads,
begun the construction of a railroad and cultivated large plantations of
cacao, palm and rubber in the region. They had also built a city,
Douala, on the Atlantic coast, which by 1914 served as the principal
port and wireless station in the Cameroons.

The British launched
their campaign in the German Cameroons in late summer 1914, just after
the outbreak of World War I; it would last 18 months. The British failed
to anticipate the German strategy: knowing the formidable strength of
the British navy, the Germans decided not to concentrate on defending
the coast, but instead to withdraw inland and use the rough interior of
the continent to fortify their resistance. Thus, although British forces
earned quick successes—they secured Douala by September 27, 1914,
without firing a shot—they were not able to fully take control of the
Cameroons until the following February.

The West African Frontier
Force, fully committed in the Cameroons until March 1916, was one of two
sets of "local" troops that the British turned to in Africa; the other
was the South African Defense Force, which concentrated on the campaign
in German Southwest Africa (now Namibia). African soldiers in World War I were generally compelled to enlist or were mercenaries. Some served on both sides during the war.

In
1919, during the Versailles peace conference, Britain was given a
mandate over one-fifth of the former German Cameroons; the rest was
assigned to France. A mandate was a commission granted by the newly
created League of Nations allowing member states of the League to
establish their own governments in former German territories. Both the
British and French Cameroons were made trust territories of the United
Nations after World War II.
The French Cameroons gained their independence in 1960 as the Republic
of Cameroon. The following year, after a U.N. plebiscite was conducted
in the British Cameroons, the southern half of the territory joined the
Republic of Cameroon, while the Northern Cameroons became part of
Nigeria.